34048 (2025). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Education

34048 (2025). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Education: How, if at all, is AI profiling and/or facial recognition used in the Minister's departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any?

Hon Erica Stanford: The Ministry of Education (the Ministry) has facial recognition as an authentication option for staff on Ministry laptops and mobile devices. The Ministry also uses a range of industry standard cyber security tools that use Machine Learning to identify security anomalies. These are then assessed by Ministry staff and/or service providers to validate if these are security threats to Ministry staff, information or systems. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) is not using AI for any profiling. NZQA’s laptops have facial recognition for ease of safe unlocking of laptop screens by staff. No AI profiling and facial recognition is used as part of the Education Review Office’s work programme. Facial recognition is an authentication option featured on staff mobile devices. Advertising agencies contracted by Education New Zealand (ENZ) utilise ‘audience look-alike technology’. This technology relies on various data points to create a profile of ideal customers/audiences. This is used by ENZ’s agencies to identify potential audiences who share similar attributes to those who have already interacted with our advertising. ENZ also uses Windows Hello as a security feature that allows users to log in to their laptops by scanning their face with the built-in camera.